Going from bad to worse, aggressive builder.

bobbylove_1 · Sep 17, 2015 6:31 pm

We have just spent a lot of money to negotiate our way out of a contract and the house isn't even at lock up and now it's leaking. The cladding is on but the waterproofing should have been done first so now the cladding may have to come off.

Lots of defects that the builder doesn't want to fix. The solicitor said we could take him to the tribunal but it could take a year and cost us $40k to get her to represent us.

He came to the site on Friday shaking with rage and fixed some leaks but left the ones around the windows. My husband finally started to video him on his ipad so that we had some evidence to show Fair Trading of his aggressive behaviour.The builder then stormed at my husband and tried to grab the ipad out of his hand.

Can Fair Trading deal with him? How do we report him to someone who gives a damn? We don't want him back which I suspect is exactly why he behaved so badly. Why can't I put up a bad review of him somewhere and warn people about him?

There is so much more going wrong with the house. I just want an Owner Builder Permit to finish inside but Fair Trading have declined my application as the building is halfway through. Has anyone successfully had their application reviewed and been given their licence?

We are drinking a lot but our marriage is intact! Any comments on any of the above would be most welcome.

Logician · Sep 17, 2015 6:42 pm

Hi,

The site for reviewing builders in in Australia is productreview(dot)com(dot)au.

bobbylove_1 · Sep 17, 2015 7:16 pm

I need the rules to avoid a defamation suit. I would love to give him a review but I'm scared of the ramifications.

Liliana · Sep 17, 2015 8:13 pm

Hi bobbylove_1,

So long as a company employs ten or more people it can't be defamed so you could give an honest account of your experience with the building company on product review. You cannot name individuals however and if your builder is a small builder ie less than 10 people, then you could face legal action if you give his company a bad review anywhere. At this stage I suggest you concentrate on trying to get the house finished and see if you can lodge a complaint about the builder through the NSW equivalent of the Building Commission. If you have already had to pay a substantial amount to terminate the contract then any money wasted on legal action will probably be good money after bad. Just my opinion.

By the way, are you in NSW?

Joker · Sep 17, 2015 8:29 pm

Get representation or just advice from a building inspector ,you need to know what to do to continue your build.

bobbylove_1 · Sep 18, 2015 2:16 pm

Thanks for the advice. We are in NSW. We are getting on with our lives and not dwelling on it too much. We are crossing our fingers that the NSW Fair Trading Inspector has something to say to him about the aggressive behaviour.